Introducing: Isaac David West

Sorry for the long delay in updating - my days have been occupied with staring in awe at my newborn son. Oh, and feeding him. He's a little hobbit - always eating :). But no more excuses - at long last, may I introduce: Isaac David West.


For those of you who have not heard the story yet, Isaac was a tiny bit overdue and we were planning to go in to be induced on Thursday the 20th at 6am. Well, on Wednesday the 19th at 6pm I started having contractions. The hospital called to confirm my induction and I told them I thought we'd probably be in on our own. Mom and I started timing contractions and they were pretty regular - 4 minutes apart and lasting about 30 to 40 seconds. So, we did all the things you do in early labor - I took a bath, we went for a walk, Mom made me a little sandwich. We kept counting contractions. And things just progressed pretty much how they are supposed to - I spent most of my contractions hanging onto James and rocking back and forth, either standing and doing the "labor dance" or sitting on the exercise ball that my doula had brought. As things got more intense, Mom turned down the lights and we put on my John Schmidt playlist, which helped me stay relaxed. At about 2:30am we decided to go to the hospital. I say "we" but it was really my mom... I was so scared they were going to tell me I was dilated to 4 and still had a long way to go. I didn't want to make the decision to go; luckily Mom is awesome and knows what she is doing. We got to the hospital and as I handed them my insurance card, I felt my water break. We got all checked in and the midwife checked me and confirmed my water had ruptured and then she said, "Oh wow - you're at 9 centimeters." I was so relieved. So I then spent an hour in the tub, getting through the last of the contractions. Then it was time to push. I will spare the details on this part - those of you who have been through it know and those who haven't don't want to. I'll just say I cried a lot but I made it through and the second I saw Isaac's face it was all forgotten. He was born at 5:01 am after 11 hours of labor. I didn't care what they did to me after that, which was good because I was hemorrhaging and they were poking me with all sorts of needles trying to get an IV in. They eventually did and got the bleeding under control fairly quickly. Isaac had a little fluid in his lungs so they were working on him too. When I finally got to hold him after that, it was just the sweetest moment.



So there's the story. Here are the stats:

Weight: 7 lbs 13 oz
Length: 19.5 inches (though at his doctor's visit he was 20.5 or thereabouts - can't remember what they said, whoops)Birthday: August 20
Hair color: blonde, but sometimes it also looks a bit reddish
Eye color: starting to look more and more blue
Favorite things to do: Eat, sleep, and suck on his daddy's finger



And, for those of you wondering about the name change, I promise we didn't pull a fast one on you on purpose. Up until the week before he was born, we really were going to name him Anders Octavian. We still think it's a pretty great name. But one night about a week before he was born, James and I were talking and James told me he didn't think we had the right name. I felt a sense of relief - I hadn't realized til that moment, but I didn't think we had the right name either. So we stayed up all night that night brainstorming new names. One thing I really wanted was to name the baby after my dad, so we decided on David for his middle name. We came up with a whole bunch of names we liked and then throughout the week we narrowed the list down to three - Benjamin, Charles, and Isaac. I think Malachi was in the running there for a little while too. But anyway, while I was pushing, the name Isaac kept coming into my head and I used it to encourage myself mentally ("Come on Isaac - come out!" etc.) so, I told James that I thought his name should be Isaac and he agreed. And that's the story of the name change. Sorry for the confusion.

James and I are extremely happy to be this special little guy's parents. He is already bringing so much joy into our lives. We feel incredibly blessed. Allow us to share a few more pictures of our little guy: